Woody Allen Was On an American Apparel Billboard?

Apr 01, 2008 @ 10:47am

woody allen american apparel billboard.jpg

The big news today is that Woody Allen is suing American Apparel for misappropriation of his image.

Apparently, Woody was never contacted about billboards that depicted him dressed as a rabbi, which apparently endorsed American Apparel clothing somehow, and so now he feels he's owed $10 million for the use of his face.

Guess you can just throw this one on top of the pile of lawsuits already against AA, specifically Dov Charney.

What's more interesting, is that we had no idea these billboards even existed, and neither does anyone else we asked this morning...

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 11:12AM

oooo yes, it existed. it was on that big billboard on allen and east houston for a bit. now it's replaced with a girl showing her ass and a dog. i think i liked the woody one better - it's from annie hall when he meets her parents...

posted by syako

Apr 01, 2008 11:14AM

It's funny. I recently traveled to Eastern Europe and you'd be amazed by how many copyright/trademark infringement goes on in the advertising over there and the funniest thing is they have no clue. I mean, every poster/billboard/etc. has images of all the American Hollywood stars and they're not making a cent from it...

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 11:35AM

I don't know about a billboard, but this image was on a christmas-day email flyer for steep discounts for shopping only on christmas (who shops on christmas day? rabbis. ha ha no.)

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 11:42AM

yeah this was at houston and allen back in sept or oct of last year. i remember b/c a) it was weird and b) my israeli boyfriend tried to read the hebrew and told me it was actually gibberish.

what does it all mean?!?!?!

posted by zinzielizabeth

Apr 01, 2008 11:52AM

the only one i ever saw was in echo park in los angeles and yeah, it was also really quickly replaced -- i think with the ad with all the technicolor leggings-and-asses in a row.

posted by AgentLover

Apr 01, 2008 12:26PM

Hilarious! April Fools???

posted by etoilee8

Apr 01, 2008 1:43PM

I really like Woody Allen, but dude. . . what's up with being so petty? $10 million??? Riiiiight. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not the biggest Dov Charney fan you'll ever meet. . . he probably deserves it). But why not just ask them to take it down and make a donation to your favourite charity?

posted by Nathalie

Apr 01, 2008 2:20PM

You girls haven't heard about it because it happened in L.A. You should have a West Coast correspondent! Oh wonderful California.

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 2:38PM

oh it existed on sunset blvd in echo park over the original AA store...you new yorkers always think if it doesn't happen in nyc than it just never happened.

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 2:41PM

To guest @ 11:42am it reads, "The Holy Rebbe" in Yiddish.

posted by guest

Apr 01, 2008 3:23PM

the ad was on the corner of the houston street american apparel. it did strike me as kind of strange when i saw it, but nothing worth going crazy over!

what gets me is that this ad was there like fall/winter, and woody allen discovers it now...?

posted by deliriouscouture

Apr 01, 2008 5:26PM

dov charney has issues. like harrassment issues. and being sued by half the world issues.

posted by guest

Apr 02, 2008 10:08AM

Hehe, I speak very broken Hebrew and couldn't make heads or tails of it... if it's Yiddish, that would explain why I couldn't really understand anything but "Rabbi..."